In April 1996 Walt Disney Pictures released James and the Giant Peach, a predominantly stop-motion picture from the imaginative team behind The Nightmare Before Christmas. Even though it spent several weeks in the top 10 when it opened I didn’t catch this film in theaters and have only seen parts of it over the years since I am not a big fan of either Stop-motion or Nightmare Before Christmas. So when I was given the opportunity to review its recent blu-ray release I was surprised to discover a delightfully heartwarming movie.
The film opens with James and his family’s beach outing. Their family love, peace, joy and hopefulness are palpable but those happy images are quickly replaced by the equally horrifying images of ugliness, anger and longing presented when an orphaned James must live with his Aunts who in standard Roald Dahl fashion are over-the-top, extremely horrifying adults.
James’ adventure begins when a mysterious stranger gives him magical “Crocodile tongues” which are accidentally spilled onto an old peach tree, causing an enormous peach to grow. James eventually crawls inside the massive peach (the film transitions to stop-motion during this sequence) and discovers its inhabited by a collection of oversized critters — Mr. Old Green Grasshopper, Mr. Centipede, Mr. Earthworm, Miss Spider, Mrs. Ladybug, and Glowworm — who are also looking for a better life. Throughout the film we watch these unlikely companions develop a familial bond as they come together to overcome various challenges.
(c) Disney
The relationship that develops between James and Miss Spider (voiced by Susan Sarandon) was my favorite part of the story. Sarandon brings warmth and softness to the spindly legged spider complete with fangs, nothing visually soft or cuddly. Yet there’s a delicate nature almost a caress in their interaction that combines with the vocal performance to make us believe Miss Spider is becoming a mother to James, especially during a sequence where she affectionately tucks him in for sleep in a spun “hammock” on her web. Perhaps its because I’m a relatively new mom myself that this particularly scene resonates with me. In fact my little guy (18 mos old) was playing in the room while I was watching “James and the Giant Peach” He loves music and will often come closer to the TV to dance when music plays such as commercial jingles or show theme songs play. So I was surprised when only one song from Randy Newman’s Academy Award nominated music managed to break into playtime and bring out his dancing feet — “Family”
(c) Disney
After enjoying the film I was disappointed the “James and the Giant Peach” Blu-ray release didn’t offer any commentary on the film. It would’ve been nice to hear more about the creative process — the songs, the unique stylings, the challenges of combining stop-motion with live action. The blu-ray does include a previously released brief production featurette that offers a bit of peek behind the scenes, a video of Randy Newman performing “Good News”, and a simple gallery of behind the scenes images including puppets, concept art, on-set, etc as well as a BD exclusive game based on a sequence in the film’s end credits.
Ultimately “James and the Giant Peach” is far more endearing and a lot less creepy than I had anticipated.